Boat yards around the Bay are preparing for an onslaught of dirty vessels from last week’s oil spill as owners begin to make insurance claims for cleaning, damaged equipment and lost business.

State and federal officials at the Unified Central Command at Treasure Island are still working out an environmentally safe plan for cleaning some of the 11,000 boats parked at 40 marinas around the Bay.

That plan will make sure oil scraped or washed from hulls does not return to the water.

In the meantime, Hudson Marine Management Services started taking calls from boat owners on behalf of insurance company Steamship Mutual of London for costs associated with cleaning their boats.

Cree Partridge, owner of Berkeley Marine Center, said the 1,200 boats parked at the Berkeley Marina and boats at four marinas in Sausalito were hardest hit by the 58,000 gallons of oil dumped into the water last week. He said there are eight boat yards around the Bay that can haul boats out of the water for cleaning.

At the Berkeley Marina, Partridge said about 800 boats probably have oil on them.

Anthony Sandberg, president of OCSC Sailing School at the Berkeley Marina, said he already visited with a representative of Hudson Marine to make a claim for cleaning his 50 sail boats, lost business and damaged equipment.

“I was surprised and pleased as punch that someone came out already,” Sandberg said. “But there was no commitment on his part that they would pay a cent.”

Sanberg said he lost about $60,000 in business during the six days the marina was closed to most marine traffic this week and last.

“We have a claim number and we are on their radar, but I’m worried that there will be only so much money to go around,” Sanberg said.

A representative in the London office of Steamship Mutual was unavailable for comment Friday.

A representative of Hudson Marine Management Services said the office has taken information from about 200 people wanting to make claims so far.

“We’re just recording their claim, giving them a claim number and forwarding the information to field personnel who survey and document damage,” the representative said.

Partridge said he already has gotten about 200 calls from boat owners wanting to get the gunk off their boats. The best way to have the job done is out of the water at a boat yard, according to Partridge.

The city of Berkeley has placed a ban on boat washing at its marina, fearful that oil on boat hulls will just return to the water during cleaning.

Partridge sent a letter to boat owners in the Berkeley Marina telling them that as of Friday, “there is no comprehensive plan to clean the oil from affected boats. We have been informed by Central Command that the Berkeley Marina is their top priority.

Mary Kay Clunies-Ross, a spokeswoman for the city of Berkeley, said “there are all kinds of sales agents at the marinas selling boat-cleaning products, and we don’t know if those are safe or not.”

Partridge said people who use solvents or “illegal and ill-advised cleaners” on their boats “will cause the oil to sink to the bottom where it will kill sea life.”

Partridge estimated it will cost about $300 to clean a 40-foot sail boat. But since he’s never done this kind of work, there’s going to be a steep learning curve.

“I’ve been calling boat yards on the Gulf Coast and the Mississippi area to get help on this,” because of the frequent oil problems due to offshore oil drilling there, Partridge said. “If all the boat yards in the area put their heads together, we can come up with a method to do it right. We have to get oil off the boats without ruining the boat, and we have to do it efficiently.”

Partridge said this is a slow time of year for hauling boats out and cleaning them. The majority of that kind of work is done in the summer months, he said.

Even though the boat cleaning will be a boon for his business, Partridge said he doesn’t take much pleasure in it.

“This is not the kind of business we hope for,” Partridge said. “We’re not hoping for disasters to make money. We have a responsibility to clean the environment and we just want to get the job done.”

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